Spanish Holiday Day 19

 Day 19: Madrid- the Prada

Another early morning flight this morning, not as bad as the last one from Barcelona to Bilbao, but still had a 6:15 pickup.  We were leaving from San Sebastian Airport, and at that hour, with no traffic, we were there just after 6:30.  San Sebastian Airport is very small (think Lebanon), and we found out that it doesn't even open until 7! Oh well, sleep is overrated.

Madrid was a bit of culture shock after  being in much smaller cities and towns over the past 2 1/2 weeks.  After checking in at our hotel, we walked to the San Miguel Market, assuming it would be similar to the market in Barcelona.  Unfortunately, it was a big tourist trap with upscale food-stalls and no place to eat outside. Time was starting to get short before our planned tour of the Prado, so we walked back up to the pedestrian mall that the hotel was on, and found a place to grab a pizza, our second in Spain and not too bad.  I guess they are close enough to Italy to learn how to make a pie.

We met our guide, Guy (Guy the Guide), an art historian  born and raised in Madrid. He had a particular interest in architecture, and on our walk to and from the Prado, we were bombarded with information about the various architectural periods and styles  along with the history of Madrid and Spain.

Madrid is also filled with green spaces, and the parks are heavily used for strolling.  We ambled through the Parque Infantil Paseo del Prado stopping to view its neoclassical fountains.

Apollo Fountain

Neptune Fountain

Just around the corner was the famous Prado, Spain's National Art Museum.  The original building dates back to 1785 when Carlos III had it built to house the royal natural history collection, but in 1819 his grandson, Ferdinand VII, designated it the Royal Museum of Painting and Sculpture and opened it to the public to see the Royal Collection.  The royal collection forms still the nucleus of the museum, with vast holdings of pieces by Goya, el Greco, Titian, Reubens, Raphael, and many others.

At 6 pm, the museum is free, but at 4, though we had to have tickets, the entrance as well as the museum itself were empty.  No wait and no crowds to block views of the most important pieces or, more importantly, to spread COVID. Win, win, win.

Photography was not permitted in the museum, but I found my 2 favorite paintings on line.

"Christ Washing the Disciples Feet" by Tintoretto

"The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Hieronymus Bosch

You might ask why a nice Jewish boy is enamored with  "Christ Washing the Disciples Feet". The subject matter is of no interest.  What was fascinating was that the painting was done with multiple perspectives, so that depending on where you are in the room, the perspective changes.  Hard to explain without seeing it.

The other painting is a triptych, a 3-paneled piece that could be transported easily and placed anywhere not requiring hanging.  The 1st panel depicts the Garden of Eden, the second, any possible type of debauchery one could imagine, and finally the last, payment for the "earthly delights" in hell.  The interesting thing here is that the painting looks like it could have been painted in the 20th Century and hanging in the MOMA, rather than in 1500 when Bosch (no relation to the LAPD detective) painted it.

We left the museum a little after 6, and the line to get in (for free) was pretty darn long.  Glad we paid.

On the way back to the hotel,  we passed statues of Goya just outside of the Prado,

and nearby, one of Cervantes, the creator of Don Quixote.

We also saw the famous statue of a bear climbing a tree, the state symbol of Madrid (could not get a good answer why this is the state symbol, other than bears are strong and therefore depict the strength of Madrid- pretty lame if you ask me).

Guy the guide pointed out an interesting walk sign to us.  Spain is extremely pro gay rights, being one of the first countries to recognize gay marriage several years ago. To make walk signs more inclusive, there are two men walking together, two women walking together, as well as heterosexual couples and single individuals.  I was surprised to find out about Spain's liberal attitudes toward abortion and Gay Rights because I thought that the Catholic Church was very strong, politically, here. Guy explained to us that  the Franco regime was very repressive with the Church being excessively powerful.  After Franco's death, there was a backlash that diminished the Church's influence to nearly zero and created an atmosphere of social liberalism that has endured until now.  Even the far right in Spain supports many of, what we consider left wing social programs.  You learn al ot from traveling.

Tomorrow we are off to Toledo for the day.